Morphogenetic Approach Research Articles

Unfolding the contextual nature of enterprise social media use – a morphogenetic approach

ABSTRACT Previous research has identified various organisational factors that influence the use of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) applications in companies, as well as the outcomes of ESM use. However, these valuable contributions manifest themselves as isolated findings and sometimes provide conflicting results, for example, regarding the impact on organisational hierarchies. It appears that the context of ESM use, which may explain the diversity of results, is not yet sufficiently understood. Against this backdrop, we develop a theoretical framework that adopts a morphogenetic perspective and draws on organisational theory to conceptualise the interplay between four organisational context dimensions and ESM use. By applying this framework to an empirical analysis of a global organisation, we develop a systematic understanding of the contextual nature of ESM use. Our findings help to position and connect previous research on hierarchies, the role of management, and the transformative outcomes of ESM use.

Can Complexity add anything to Critical Realism and the Morphogenetic Approach?

AbstractComplexity is not ‘the same as simply complicated’. This is because its advocates present it as a theoretical approach to explaining major aspects of the social order, usually at the macro level, whereas many social phenomena, at any level, can be full of complications (such as the incidence of road accidents) without a unifying theoretical key. Thus, the latter have a strong tendency to remain at the level of events and their study to be confined to a ‘variables’ approach, statistically combining the most variable of potentially contributory factors, without being troubled by the absence, in particular cases of one or more common contributors to accidents (such as drivers’ alcohol consumption). But ‘the Complexity Turn’ does much more than leaving empiricism behind, like Critical Realism from its earliest beginnings, and in some hands is seen as the senior partner of these two approaches.

Four modes of transformative agency: morphogenetic portraits of teachers in Russian-medium schools in Estonia

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the unique educational context of Estonia, which is distinct due to its parallelism (schools with Russian and Estonian languages of instruction co-exist in one national space). I introduce the transformative modes of agency of teachers from schools with Russian as the language of instruction using a morphogenetic approach in combination with symbolic interactionism. Applying a semi-structured interview method with 27 teachers around Estonia, I develop four ‘modes of transformation.’ My main conclusion is that teachers’ most morphogenetic practices are predominantly connected with social reproduction, while the practices they reflexively choose to replicate are consistently personally transformative.

Reimagining Pathways Into Culture and Creative Industries in the City of Seattle

In view that Culture and Creative Industries (CCI) are multi-sector, emergent, and complex, this paper couples the theoretical perspective of Margaret Archer’s Morphogenetic Approach with Adam Kahane’s Tansformative Scenario Planning (TSP) as its strategic framework to discover, articulate, and connect cross-sector (community-based organizations, industry, government, and education) CCI efforts. This study has sought to understand how and in what ways the actions found in the creative sector can be leveraged to enhance participation and ameliorate the outputs of socio-economic efforts across the full spectrum of the greater Seattle region. Thus, though this example it contributes to the creation of vital places of public welfare, where public frameworks and policies nurture accessibility and participate in connected culture and creative ecology.

Ecological thinking in regenerative architecture: Relevance of abduction in ecoLogic Studio’s Deep Green research project

This article explores the connotations of regenerative architecture in the context of the Anthropocene, emphasizing the role of abduction on human cognition and its potential impact on innovation, especially when applied to a bio-cybernetic design method. The DeepGreen research project, developed by ecoLogicStudio in collaboration with the University of Innsbruck and the Bartlett UCL, serves as an exemplification of this method. The project combines biological and artificial intelligence to create an urban ecological infrastructure that integrates architectural and ecological systems. Centering on the DeepGreen project, this study discusses the creative potential and ecological embodiment of bio-cybernetic design protocols. It focuses on the mechanism of abduction in triggering innovative design solutions from a logical perspective, aligning with the principles of mind ecology at a cognitive level. The analysis suggests an innovative and ecological design thinking mode, asserting that regenerative architecture can encompass not only material aspects but also informational and spiritual dimensions. This approach ultimately promotes a holistic and harmonious urban environment. Furthermore, this research posits that the bio-cybernetic stance and the morphogenetic approach share commonalities with the holistic conception of nature and the ecological view in ancient Chinese Daoist philosophy. This contribution can potentially offer a contemporary interpretation of the Daoist principles of “Nature and Humans in One Unity (天人合一)” and “The Dao Imitates the Laws of Nature (道法自然).” Such an interpretation is deemed beneficial for addressing today’s concerns related to holistic, balanced, and harmonious urbanism. Henceforth, the study endeavors to facilitate discourse between Eastern and Western trends of thought, culminating in a cohesive yet heterogeneous regenerative approach.

Female role models in school religious education and their perception by female students in the final years of secondary school

ABSTRACT The present article discusses female students’ perception of the female role models introduced to them during religious education classes in Poland. Besides imparting knowledge, the teaching of religious classes in schools, a part of religious education, aims at shaping attitudes. Therefore, presenting young people with role models who can inspire them and be a reference point concerning their behaviour should be a vital component of religious education. The current research shows, however, that this is a neglected area. This article is based on a research study comprising focus group interviews. The participants were adult students in the final grades of secondary school who had completed the entire cycle of religious education at school. The article is structured as follows. The first section discusses the relationship between the role models presented to students during religious education classes and the shaping of their identity vis-a-vis the morphogenetic approach of M. Archer. The second section focuses on the female personal role models mentioned in the core curriculum and religious education textbooks. This is followed by a delineation of the methodological assumptions of the present research and a discussion of the results.

Imagine, predict or perform? Reclaiming the future in sociology beyond scientism and catastrophism

AbstractIn this article I examine and criticize some mainstream views of the future within scholarly debates, mainly in social science. The goal is to review the strategies sociology is following to include the future as a theme of its own reflections. Such strategies also reveal relevant aspects of the society in which they are developed. The main argument revolves around some tensions concerning the relationship of contemporary societies to their future. The key points can be summarized as follows: in contemporary complex societies, where change is believed to be the only constant, social science seems to have abandoned the future as a theme of its reflections, while at the same time prediction and forecast are increasingly necessary. Future studies are, therefore, mainly an enterprise for managers and engineers, taking place in either government or corporate environments and far from the academy. Why is this happening? And is it necessarily so? What does sociology know about "the future(s)? Could prediction still be the form of the argument sociology can make about the future? And if this cannot be, then what exactly is its possible contribution – if any? Are these embarrassing questions a reflection of the way things really are, or of a wrong attitude sociology has taken to future studies? The main thesis is that insofar as sociology still occupies the field of future studies, it is undergoing a process of hybridization, which leads to mix its representational and performative function in a new way, and that can possibly escape confusion with old and new forms of utopian thinking. Such a thesis is illustrated introducing one particular analytic tool deployed in social scientific oriented future studies, namely scenarios, and comparing its inherent logic with that of the morphogenetic approach to sociological research. I attempt to examine the rationale of such a tool, and how it can serve the purpose of sociological analysis, constituting some kind of reflexive morphogenesis of sociological theory of the future

Morphogenetic Régulation in action: understanding inclusive governance, neoliberalizing processes in Palestine, and the political economy of the contemporary internet

ABSTRACT The Morphogenetic Régulation approach (MR) contributes to the Morphogenetic Approach by explaining the material and ideational origins of change and stasis in agency, structure, and culture. In this paper, we focus on the expressive quality of ideas and systemic persistence in three research projects. The first demystifies inclusive governance and its adverse impacts. It shows how, contrary to institutions of governance, inclusiveness is not simply a norm but actually the explication of corporate agents’ ideas about rational choice institutionalism which leads to adverse impacts on vulnerable groups and ecologies known as adverse inclusion. The second investigates the role of ideas as adequacy and self-explication in guiding Palestinian actors’ actions towards the deepening of neoliberalization in Palestine. The third explains the relevance of the systemic persistence problematique for understanding how three juxtaposed themes – Web2, Web3, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) – are shaping the political economy and infrastructure of the Internet.

RELIEF STRUCTURE OF THE LAKE LADOGA BOTTOM BASED ON SEISMIC-ACOUSTIC AND BATHYMETRIC DATA<a href="#FN2"><sup>2</sup></a>

A large amount of data on geological structure, quaternary deposits and bottom sediments of Lake Ladoga was obtained during the last 70 years. Meanwhile, bottom geomorphology of the lake is poorly studied. In most of cases geomorphological description includes only short morphometric characteristics and large-scale bottom elements description. In the present study new materials on Lake Ladoga bottom geomorphology is presented. Ultrahigh-resolution seismic data of 2014 and 2015 expeditions on research vessel “Ekolog” (Organizers: Saint-Petersburg State University, Marine Research Center of MSU, and Karelian Scientific Center of RAS), as well as digital bathymetric model of the basin, developed in the Institute of Limnology of SPB FRC RAS were used as original data. As a result of geomorphological interpretation 6 geomorphological genetic types were characterized: denudative constructive, erosional subequal, lacustrine, glacial, fluvioglacial marginal, and glacial lacustrine. Meso- and macroscale forms such as plains, ridges, hollows, valleys were distinguished. Signs of neotectonic movements north of Vallaam archipelago were approved. Terminal glacial landforms produced during the Neva stage of the Ostashkov glaciation were traced in the central part of the lake. Conditions and forms of the postglacial landscape development were characterized. These data were used to construct 1:1 000 000 scale geomorphological scheme applying the morphogenetic approach of analytical geomorphological mapping.

The transactional gift-exchange: a morphogenetic analysis of unpaid internships

ABSTRACT This paper combines the use of gift theory and the metatheory of the Morphogenetic Approach as a framework for the proposal that the relationship between unpaid interns and ‘employers’ may be conceptualized as a form of transactional, but asymmetrical, gift-exchange. The article begins by applying insights from gift theory to the findings of a range of studies into unpaid internships. It is argued that, while interns are the initial gift-givers in delivering unpaid labour, ‘employers’ often demonstrate weak reciprocation in terms of offering paid work. Following that, the article combines gift analysis with the Morphogenetic Approach. This framework offers ontological depth to the substantive propositions of gift theory, and provides conceptual tools to study the interplay between structure/culture and agency that form the intern-‘employer’ relationship. The contribution of this article lies in the combined use of two key theoretical perspectives to a problematic not previously examined through such concepts.

The multiple geographies of constrained labour agency

This article critically evaluates the burgeoning work on labour agency in human geography over the past decade. We review efforts to distinguish varied forms of labour agency and locate them in different social contexts. In so doing, we identify certain disjunctures in the cross-case conceptualisation of labour agency and propose a morphogenetic approach to structure-agency dynamics in the world of work. In turn, we then address the lack of explicit reflection on the geographies inherent to labour agency. Four temporal moments are highlighted as central to the spatialities of worker actions, as well as to their structural constraints and outcomes.

L’aggressione e l'incontro: risonanza e critica della modernità in Hartmut Rosa

Hartmut Rosa has grown to international celebrity thanks to his theory of social acceleration as a new interpretation of modernity, linked with the imperative of growth and the idea of alienation. His recent work has revolved around the concept of resonance, and although this has raised significant interest, its positioning within contemporary sociological theory still needs further study. This article starts situating the notion of resonance in the wider context of Rosa’s theoretical enterprise (section 1). The following section outlines the key concepts and the main argument comprising his theory of resonance, and briefly examines some specific challenges to resonance emerging in the current predicament (section 2). Finally, the article ends by connecting idea of resonance with a few pivotal themes in contemporary sociological theory, with a special focus on Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic approach and her theory of the Self and personal reflexivity (section 3). The core thesis of the article is that the notion of resonance still calls for better understanding within social theory, precisely because of the specific type of critique of modernity inherent in such a concept.

Exploring educational policy transfer: A structure–agency perspective

AbstractThis study presents some of the current methodological issues regarding the analysis and comprehension of educational policy transfer, with particular emphasis on the issue of structure and agency. It suggests some shortcomings of current educational policy transfer research in dealing with the complex interaction between structure and agency. To fill those voids, drawing from Archer's morphogenetic approach in educational policy transfer, an alternative framework of educational policy transfer is presented. A case from the author's current research on China's interest in Japanese vocational education during the late Qing Dynasty is given to explain the usage of this new interpretive framework. It is hoped that this new conceptual framework will aid in analysing educational policy transfer and open up a new methodological and theoretical space for future educational policy transfer research.

Four female Khoisan language translators across three centuries of Cape history: a morphogenetic analysis

Female translators are highly atypical in South African colonial history. Yet four important female translators appear on the scene who, interestingly, all translated or interpreted into or from Khoesan languages. Therefore, apart from their marginalised position as women, these translators are also linked to marginalised languages. These translators are Krotoa, a Khoe interpreter employed by colonial administrator Jan van Riebeeck, Zara Schmelen, a Nama mission assistant and Bible translator, and Lucy Lloyd and Dorothea Bleek, so-called Bushman researchers and relatives of the famous philologist Wilhelm Bleek. This article is interested in the ways in which the work of these early female translators expressed social conditioning and in the characteristics of their agency within a restrictive social space. The hindering and enabling factors involved in these women’s practice of translation and interpreting is analysed and particular attention is paid to the ideological characteristics of their work. In the analysis of the social characteristics of translation, Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic approach is employed. Archer’s approach involves an investigation of structure, culture and agency and the ways in which these contribute to cycles of social change (morphogenesis) or maintenance (morphostasis). With regard to agency, the analysis is guided by Archer’s terms primary agency (which results from social rank), corporate agency (which results from social organisation) and social actorship (which results from the unification of personal identity with social roles). The research finds that chance and male sanctioning were present in these women’s involvement in translation, but that a strong exercise of agency was present which was personally motivated. Agency involved no organisation, however, and neither sought nor achieved social change. Yet, three of the four translators were able to achieve social actorship, whereby their role as translators was successfully united with their personal identity.

A causal model for creating public value (in institutional voids)—the case of Lesvos

The Greek island of Lesvos is a holiday destination that became the main entry point for forced migrants to Europe during 2015 and 2016. These circumstances of disruptive societal change are used as the basis for developing a causal and dynamic model that creates public value in institutional voids.The clash between a holiday location and a humanitarian-ecological disaster and the fact that volunteers were the frontline response at the border of the EU in a politically complex situation made this, at the time, a very special case. The attention of celebrities and the media, Lesvos’ geographical proximity to Turkey, the historical conflicts between the two neighbouring countries, the lack of interaction between local people and the involvement of international NGOs spurred conflicts between various actors, causing social fragmentation on the island.The model identifies the core aspects of strengthening social capital and building trust to counter such societal fragmentation. Following Archer’s morphogenetic approach as a meta-concept, and the identification of causalities for understanding the social dynamics on Lesvos as a starting point, an extended version of Moore’s public value concept was used to build the empirical basis for the development of the model.The model presented can be used to distinguish between three very separate pathways of creating public value. I call this public value (PV) outcome creation. These pathways are described separately by using causal loop diagrams (CLDs). When aligned, they suggest a causal understanding of how adaptive leadership and collaborative governance can be a core element and a generative mechanism of social change that creates public value.Although the paper draws on a case study that is relevant to migration studies, it is not a migration study, but rather an attempt to use and improve “social-theory reflection” by applying a systems thinking approach as we embark on addressing public value creation, social problems and social-systems transformation (in institutional voids).

Emergence and Evolution of Digital Transformation: A Morphogenetic Approach

Digital transformation (DT) endeavors present high levels of failure due to their complexity, bringing to the fore the importance of better understanding how they emerge and unfold over time. To address that lacuna, we adopt a morphogenetic approach (MA) and draw upon institutional theory, as well as ten years of organizational documents and 60 interviews with employees of a multinational military organization. We uncover an emergent digital logic, which enables grasping organizational reality, pressures, appropriate behavior, and success in the digital age. Moreover, we identify four morphogenetic cycles, revealing that DT revolves around responses to institutional complexity that are dependent on interactions amongst culture, structure, and agency. We demonstrate that DT is shaped by dynamic organizational responses to institutional complexity as the digital logic emerges. Importantly, we show that the DT endeavor is initiated unconsciously before the organization starts making conscious, structural DT changes. Finally, we contribute to opening the black box of agency in dealing with institutional complexity and DT endeavors. Specifically, we identify different strategies over time that proponents of the emerging logic adopt to push the organization towards the new logic.

Two Routes to Degeneration, Two Routes to Utopia

It sometimes appears that alternative organizations are doomed to perpetuate the systems they aim to transform, as efforts to avoid co-optation lead these organizations to retreat from the very engagement necessary for social change. Scholars then face a dilemma: reveal these degenerative processes in existing alternative organizations and reinforce disillusionment, or avoid such critique and endorse ineffectual strategies. This paper thus asks how we can engage in necessary critical work without thereby stifling social change efforts. Erik Olin Wright’s real utopias approach is first used to distinguish two broad strategies adopted by alternative organizations – symbiotic and interstitial – associated with distinct degeneration risks. The former set, exposure degeneration, are well-studied by the alternative organizations literature, but the latter, insulation degeneration, have received less systematic attention. Thus, the first contribution of this paper is the classification of these degeneration risks and the specification of their dialogical relationship. In a second step, the paper draws upon the critical realist morphogenetic approach to understand social change strategies and degeneration risks in terms of structurally conditioned agency in cycles of simultaneous structural reproduction and elaboration. Thus understood, structural reproduction through exposure or insulation degeneration does not necessarily preclude structural elaboration. The second contribution of the paper is therefore a framework for engaging alternative organizations with genuine but constructive critique that accounts for the twin risks they face as well as the promise nevertheless inherent in their diverging strategies.

When singing strengthens the capacity to aspire: girls’ reflexivity in rural Bangladesh

ABSTRACT In the present paper, we explore the impact of singing for girls in rural Bangladesh. Previous findings in this field-based interview study (with 18 girls) have demonstrated that singing can act as a driving force in young girls’ psychological individuation processes, implying increased agency and autonomy. A critical question, however, is to what extent the village girls will manage to maintain a feeling of agency as they pass through puberty. How do they navigate between their own wish to continue singing and pressure from cultural norms (such as getting married)? Using Margareth Archer’s morphogenetic approach and Arjun Appadurai’s approach to culture as a capacity as analytical tools, we connect different modes of reflexivity to the girls’ capacity to aspire. We discuss specific mechanisms that emerge as relevant for the girls/young women as they navigate their way through the Bengali rural society.

Meta-Reflexivity as a Way toward Responsible and Sustainable Behavior

In line with the social morphogenetic approach, this article explores the role of meta-reflexivity in responsible concerns and actions oriented toward achieving a sustainable society. Based on the case study of Slovenia, this article addresses individuals’ social and environmental responsibility by considering the relationships between their attitudes, intentions and behavior. It draws on a survey questionnaire that includes the reflexivity measurement tool. The path-analysis is applied to consider the aspects of responsibility as endogenous variables, while the social/cultural conditions (age, gender, educational level, income and the survey wave) and meta-reflexivity as a specific mode of inner dialog are included as exogenous variables. A coherent index of socially and environmentally responsible behavior can be constructed and explained by social/cultural conditions and meta-reflexivity. The COVID-19 pandemic indicates negative effects on responsibility, mostly due to a decline in meta-reflexivity. The study reveals two different—although not mutually exclusive—paths towards socially and environmentally responsible behavior. The first one is based on a combination of well-established values, habits and inertia. This behavior is more typical for older generations, as indicated by the impact of age. The second one is mostly based on critical, meta-reflexive thinking and it is more typical for younger, more educated and more affluent people.

A morphogenetic approach to sport and social inclusion: a case study of good will’s reproductive power

Recently, it has been suggested that critical realism offers a potential lens to understand sport and social change. This paper utilizes a case study with a Swedish martial arts club, renowned for its social inclusion culture and undertaking of a refugee initiative. I analyze this material according to Archer’s (1995) morphogenetic approach. The results show that several issues prevent the refugees’ social inclusion. According to the morphogenetic approach, these issues are due to structural- and cultural conditions, which partially set the stage for how the club responds to diversity. In contemplating incidents that hamper the initiative, informants deliberated how refugees fail to adopt specific ways of training and behaving. The narratives reflect the broader Swedish political climate concerning migrants’ adaptation, where assimilation, rather than integration, is preferred. Thus, the paper contributes towards the (critical) realist-understanding of sport and social inclusion and offers insights into generative mechanisms that underpin exclusionary practices.